In the Valley of a Thousand Gods - The Templar Rescuers of Kathmandu

Im Tal der tausend Götter - Die Tempelretter von Kathmandu

In the valley of Kathmandu in Nepal, between rice paddies and the Himalayas,the rulers of a two-thousand-year-old kingdom have left behindtreasures of architecture and craftsmanship, namely in the royal cities ofKathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, which today are UNESCO World Heri-tage Sites. Where trade routes between Tibet and China intersected forcenturies, a fascinating synthesis between Buddhism and Hinduism emerged,which expressed itself in pagodas, stupas, monasteries and palaces.Yet the art treasures are threatened by deterioration. When the now 91-year-old Viennese Eduard Sekler, Harvard professor emeritus and architect,came to Nepal during a world tour in 1962 and saw the art treasures, hewas deeply impressed. To protect them permanently, he founded the«Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust» with his colleague Erich Theophil.To date the Trust has saved innumerable important buildings. Among the«masterpieces» are the former royal palace in Patan, now one of the mostimportant museums in Asia, and the «Garden of Dreams» in Kathmandu.